Information processing method, information processing apparatus, and information processing program

ABSTRACT

An information processing method includes: a receiving step for receiving a message; an outputting step of outputting display information for associating and displaying the message received in the reception step with an icon associated with an account that is associated with the user that has transmitted the message; and a changing step of changing the ion associated with the account that has transmitted the message, if the message includes icon information to be displayed as the speaker of the message. When the changing step has changed the icon, the outputting step outputs display information for associating and displaying the message received in the receiving step with the changed icon.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation application of InternationalApplication No. PCT/JP2017/035360, filed on Sep. 28, 2017, thedisclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND 1. Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to an information processing method, aninformation processing apparatus, and an information processing programthat clearly indicate switching of a user in a talk in which two or moreusers are present.

2. Description of Related Art

A number of messenger applications have been developed and provided. Aprofile of a user that uses a messenger application can be confirmed inrecent years. For example, a profile providing method may allow a userto access his/her profile or a friend's profile.

Chatbots may mimic human speech to stimulate a conversation orinteraction with a real person. Chatbots are also known as conversionalagents, and commonly used to provide a customer support service.However, many customers think that chatbots are unappealing and annoyingbecause the chatbots conduct clumsy conversions. For that reason, somecustomers prefer human agents to chatbots for their customer serviceengagements and request a switch from the chatbot to a humanagent/operator. However, conventional messenger application profileproviding methods do not provide a feature that allows a user to checkwhether the conversation partner has been changed from the chatbot to ahuman agent/operator on the messenger application.

SUMMARY

Example embodiments address at least the above problems and/ordisadvantages and other disadvantages not described above. Also, theexample embodiments are not required to overcome the disadvantagesdescribed above, and may not overcome any of the problems describedabove.

One or more example embodiments provide an information processingmethod, an information processing apparatus, and an informationprocessing program allowing a user to check a switch of users at aglance in an instant messaging service.

An information processing method for providing a chat room forexchanging messages between at least a first user corresponding to afirst account and a second user corresponding to a second accountaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes: areceiving step of receiving a message; an outputting step of outputtingdisplay information for displaying the message received in the receivingstep in association with an icon that is associated with an accountcorresponding to a user that has transmitted the message; and a changingstep of changing, when the message includes icon information to bedisplayed as a sender of the message, the icon corresponding to theaccount that has transmitted the message. The outputting step outputs,when the changing step changes the icon, display information fordisplaying the message received in the receiving step in associationwith the changed icon.

An information processing apparatus for providing a chat room forexchanging messages between at least a first user corresponding to afirst account and a second user corresponding to a second accountaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes: areceiving unit for receiving a message; an outputting unit foroutputting display information for displaying the message received bythe receiving unit in association with an icon that is associated withan account corresponding to a user that has transmitted the message; anda changing unit for changing, when the message includes icon informationto be displayed as a sender of the message, the icon corresponding tothe account that has transmitted the message. The outputting unitoutputs, when the changing unit changes the icon, display informationfor displaying the message received by the receiving unit in associationwith the changed icon.

A storage medium storing an information processing program according toan embodiment of the present disclosure that causes an informationprocessing apparatus for providing a chat room for exchanging messagesbetween at least a first user corresponding to a first account and asecond user corresponding to a second account to execute: a receivingfunction of receiving a message; an outputting function of outputtingdisplay information for displaying the message received by the receivingfunction in association with an icon that is associated with an accountcorresponding to a user that has transmitted the message; and a changingfunction of changing, when the message includes icon information to bedisplayed as a sender of the message, the icon corresponding to theaccount that has transmitted the message. The outputting functionoutputs, when the changing function changes the icon, displayinformation for displaying the message received by the receivingfunction in association with the changed icon.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and/or other aspects will be more apparent by describingcertain example embodiments, with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a communicationsystem according to one aspect of an embodiment,

FIGS. 2A and 2B are diagrams each illustrating a configuration of aserver according to an example embodiment,

FIG. 3A is an example of a data format of a message,

FIG. 3B is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of a dataconfiguration of icon data stored in the server,

FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of a process of thecommunication system according to a first example embodiment,

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process of the serverrelated to a switching of a user according to the first exampleembodiment,

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process of a terminalrelated to the switching of the user according to the first exampleembodiment,

FIG. 7A is a diagram illustrating an example of a chat room screen,

FIG. 7B is a diagram illustrating an example of a chat room screen in astate where an icon is switched,

FIG. 8A is a diagram illustrating an example of a push notificationscreen,

FIG. 8B is a diagram illustrating an example of a push notificationscreen in a state where an icon is switched, and

FIG. 9 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of a process of thecommunication system according to a second example embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

It should be noted that the disclosure disclosed in the descriptionshould be performed in compliance with legal matters concerningcommunication confidentiality.

Example embodiments are described in greater detail below with referenceto the accompanying drawings.

In the following description, like drawing reference numerals are usedfor like elements, even in different drawings. The matters defined inthe description, such as detailed construction and elements, areprovided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of the exampleembodiments. However, it is apparent that the example embodiments can bepracticed without those specifically defined matters. Also, well-knownfunctions or constructions are not described in detail since they wouldobscure the description with unnecessary detail.

Expressions such as “at least one of,” when preceding a list ofelements, modify the entire list of elements and do not modify theindividual elements of the list. For example, the expression, “at leastone of a, b, and c,” should be understood as including only a, only b,only c, both a and b, both a and c, both b and c, all of a, b, and c, orany variations of the aforementioned examples.

<System Configuration>

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a communicationsystem according to an example embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, in thecommunication system, servers 10 and terminals 20 (terminals 20A, 20B,and 20C) are connected via a network 30. Each server 10 provides theterminals 20 owned by the users with a service for transmitting andreceiving messages among the terminals 20 via the network 30. The numberof terminals 20 connected to the network 30 is not limited.

The network 30 serves to connect one or more terminals 20 and one ormore servers 10. That is, the network 30 refers to a communicationnetwork that provides a connection path so that data can be transmittedand received after each terminal 20 connects to the server 10.

For example, one or more portions of the network 30 may be a wired orwireless network. The network 30 may include an ad hoc network, anintranet, an extranet, a virtual private network (VPN), a local areanetwork (LAN), a wireless LAN (WLAN), a wide area network (WAN), awireless WAN (WWAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), a part of theInternet, a part of a public switched telephone network (PSTN), a mobiletelephone network, integrated service digital networks (ISDNs), awireless LAN, long term evolution (LTE), code division multiple access(CDMA), Bluetooth (registered trademark), satellite communication, or acombination of two or more of them, for example. However, in the presentdisclosure, the network 30 is not limited thereto. Also, network 30 mayinclude one or more networks 30.

The terminal 20 (the terminal 20A, the terminal 20B, and the terminal20C) may be any terminal as long as it is an information processingterminal capable of embodying the functions described in theembodiments. The terminal 20 is typically a smartphone, and alsoincludes a mobile phone (e.g., a feature phone), a computer (e.g., adesktop, a laptop, and a tablet), a media computer platform (e.g., acable set-top box, a satellite set-top box, and a digital videorecorder), a handheld computing device (e.g., a personal digitalassistant (PDA), and an email client), a wearable terminal (e.g., aglasses-type device, and a watch-type device), or other types ofcomputers, or communication platforms. However, in the presentdisclosure, the terminal 20 is not limited thereto. The terminal 20 maybe referred to as an information processing terminal.

The configurations of terminal 20A, terminal 20B, and terminal 20C maybe substantially the same, and therefore the terminal 20 will bedescribed as a representative in the following description. Further, theuser information associated with the terminal 20X will be described asuser information X and the user that operates the terminal 20X will bedescribed as user X as needed. The user information is a part or all ofinformation associated with an account in a social network service (SNS)represented by an instant messenger, and is directed to, for example, auser name or a user image. In addition, the user information may includeinformation such as a user identifier, an age, a gender, and an addressof a user, or a combination thereof. However, the information is notlimited thereto.

The server 10 has a function of providing a predetermined service to theterminal 20. The server 10 may be any device as long as the informationprocessing apparatus can embody the functions described in theembodiments. The server 10 is typically a server device, and includes acomputer (e.g., a desktop, a laptop, and a tablet), a media computerplatform (e.g., a cable set-top box, a satellite set-top box, and adigital video recorder), a handheld computer device (e.g., a PDA, and anemail client), or other types of computers, or communication platforms.However, in the present disclosure, the server 10 is not limitedthereto. Further, the server 10 may be referred to as an informationprocessing apparatus.

<Hardware (HW) Configuration>

The hardware HW configuration of the devices included in thecommunication system will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

(1) HW Configuration of Terminal

The terminal 20 includes a control device 21 (e.g., a central processingunit (CPU), a processor), a storage device 28, a communication interface(I/F) 22, an input/output device 23, a display device 24, a microphone25, a speaker 26, and a camera 27. The components of the HW of theterminal 20 are connected to each other via a bus B2, for example.

The communication I/F 22 transmits and receives various data via thenetwork 30. The communication may be performed by wire or wirelessly,and any communication protocol may be used as long as mutualcommunication can be performed. The communication I/F 22 has a functionof communicating with the server 10 via the network 30. Thecommunication I/F 22 transmits various data to the server 10 accordingto instructions from the control device 21. The communication I/F 22also receives various data from the server 10 and transfers the data tothe control device 21.

The input/output device 23 includes a device for inputting variousoperations to the terminal 20 and a device for outputting a processingresult processed by the terminal 20. In the input/output device 23, theinput device and the output device may be integrated, or may beseparated into the input device and the output device.

The input device is embodied by any one or a combination of all types ofdevices capable of receiving an input from a user and transmittinginformation on the input to the control device 21. The input device mayinclude, for example, a touch panel that detects a contact by a pointingtool such as a user's finger or a stylus and the contact position, andmay transmit the coordinates of the contact position to the controldevice 21. Alternatively, the input device may be embodied by an inputdevice other than the touch panel. The input device includes, forexample, hardware keys typified by a keyboard, a pointing device such asa mouse, a camera (operation input via a moving image), and a microphone(voice operation input). However, in the present disclosure, the inputdevice is not limited thereto.

The output device is embodied by any one or a combination of all typesof devices capable of outputting the processing result processed by thecontrol device 21. The output device may be embodied as a touch panel,for example. Alternatively, the output device may be embodied by anoutput device other than the touch panel. The output device may includea speaker (audio output), a lens (for example, three dimensions (3D)output or a hologram output), and a printer, for example. However, inthe present disclosure, the output device is not limited thereto.

The display device 24 is embodied by any one or a combination of alltypes of devices capable of displaying according to the display datawritten in the frame buffer. The display device 24 may be embodied as amonitor (for example, a liquid crystal display or an organicelectroluminescence display (OELD)). The display device 24 may be a headmounted display (HMD). Further, the display device 24 may be embodied bya device capable of displaying an image and text information, forexample, in the air (or in a vacuum) such as projection mapping, and ahologram. The display devices 24 may be capable of displaying displaydata in 3D. However, in the present disclosure, the display device 24 isnot limited thereto.

When the input/output device 23 is a touch panel, the input/outputdevice 23 and the display device 24 may be arranged to face each otherwith substantially the same size and shape.

The control device 21 has a physically structured circuit for executinga function embodied by a code or an instruction included in a program,and is embodied by, for example, a data processing apparatus built inhardware.

The control device 21 may include any one or any combination of acentral processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, a processor core, amultiprocessor, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), and afield programmable gate array (FPGA). However, in the presentdisclosure, the control device 21 is not limited thereto.

The storage device 28 has a function of storing various programs andvarious data required for the operations of the terminal 20. The storagedevice 28 is embodied by various storage media such as a hard disk drive(HDD), a solid state drive (SSD), a flash memory, a random access memory(RAM), and a read only memory (ROM). However, in the present disclosure,the storage device 28 is not limited thereto.

The terminal 20 stores the program P in the storage device 28, andexecutes the program P so that the control device 21 executes a processas each of the units included in the control device 21. That is, theprogram P stored in the storage device 28 causes the terminal 20 toembody each of the functions executed by the control device 21.

The microphone 25 is used for inputting audio data. The speaker 26 isused for outputting audio data. The camera 27 is used for acquiringmoving image data.

(2) Server HW Configuration

The server 10 includes a control device 11 (CPU), a storage device 15, acommunication interface (I/F) 14, an input/output device 12, and adisplay 13. The components of the HW of the server 10 are connected toeach other via a bus B, for example.

The control device 11 has a physically structured circuit for executinga function embodied by a code or an instruction included in a program,and is embodied by, for example, a data processing apparatus built inhardware.

The control device 11 may include any one or any combination of acentral processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, a processor core, amultiprocessor, an ASIC, or an FPGA. However, in the present disclosure,the control device 11 is not limited thereto.

The storage device 15 has a function of storing various programs andvarious data required for the operations of the server 10. The storagedevice 15 is embodied by various storage media such as an HDD, an SSD,and a flash memory. However, in the present disclosure, the storagedevice 15 is not limited thereto.

The communication I/F 14 transmits and receives various data via thenetwork 30. The communication may be performed by wire or wirelessly,and any communication protocol may be used as long as mutualcommunication can be performed. The communication I/F 14 has a functionof communicating with the terminal 20 via the network 30. Thecommunication I/F 14 transmits various data to the terminal 20 accordingto an instruction from the control device 11. The communication I/F 14also receives various data transmitted from the terminal 20 andtransfers the data to the control device 11.

The input/output device 12 is embodied by a device for receiving inputsfor various operations to the server 10. The input/output device 12 isembodied by any one or a combination of all types of devices capable ofreceiving an input from a user and transferring information on the inputto the control device 11. The input/output device 12 may be embodied bya hardware key represented by a keyboard, for example, or a pointingdevice such as a mouse. The input/output device 12 may include a touchpanel, a camera (operation input via a moving image), and a microphone(voice operation input), for example. However, in the presentdisclosure, the input/output device 12 is not limited thereto.

The display 13 may be embodied as a monitor (for example, a liquidcrystal display or an organic electroluminescence display (OELD)). Thedisplay 13 may be a head-mounted display (HMD), for example. The display13 may be capable of displaying display data in 3D. However, in thepresent disclosure, the display 13 is not limited thereto. The server 10stores the program P in the storage device 15 and executes the program Pso that the control device 11 executes a process as each of the unitsincluded in the control device 11. That is, the program P stored in thestorage device 15 causes the server 10 to embody each of the functionsexecuted by the control device 11.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, a description will begiven assuming that the CPU of the terminal 20 and/or the server 10embodies the functions of the units by executing the program P.

The control device 21 of the terminal 20 and/or the control device 11 ofthe server 10 may embody the processes by not only the CPU but also alogic circuit (hardware) formed on an integrated circuit (e.g., anintegrated circuit (IC) chip and a large scale integration (LSI)), or adedicated circuit. Further, these circuits may be embodied as one ormore integrated circuits, and the processes described in the embodimentsmay be embodied as one integrated circuit. Further, the LSI may bereferred to as a VLSI, a super LSI, and an ultra LSI, for example,depending on the degree of integration.

In addition, the programs P (software programs/computer programs) of theembodiments of the present disclosure may be provided in a state inwhich they are stored in a computer-readable storage medium. The storagemedium is capable of storing the programs on a “temporary tangiblemedium.”

The storage medium may include one or more semiconductor-based or otherintegrated circuits (ICs) where appropriate, such as, for example, afield programmable gate array (FPGA) or an application specificintegrated circuit (ASIC), a hard disk drive (HDD), a hybrid hard drive(HHD), an optical disk, an optical disk drive (ODD), a magneto-opticaldisk, a magneto-optical drive, a floppy (registered trademark) diskette,floppy (registered trademark) disk drive (FDD), a magnetic tape, asolid-state drive (SSD), a RAM drive, a secure digital card or drive,any other suitable storage medium, or a suitable combination of two ormore of them. The storage medium may be volatile, non-volatile, or acombination of volatile and non-volatile, where appropriate. The storagemedium is not limited to these examples, and may be any device or mediumas long as the program P can be stored.

For example, the server 10 and/or the terminal 20 can embody thefunctions of the plurality of functional units described in theembodiments by reading the program P stored in the storage medium andexecuting the read program P.

In addition, the program P according to the present disclosure may beprovided to the server 10 and/or the terminal 20 via an optionaltransmission medium (such as a communication network and a broadcastwave) capable of transmitting the program. The server 10 and/or theterminal 20 embody the functions of the plurality of functional unitsdescribed in the embodiments, for example, by executing the program Pdownloaded via the Internet.

In addition, the embodiments of the present disclosure may also beembodied in the form of a data signal embedded in a carrier wave inwhich the program P is embodied through electronic transmission. Atleast a part of the processing in the server 10 and/or the terminal 20may be embodied by cloud computing configured by one or more computers.The server 10 may be configured to perform at least a part of theprocessing in the terminal 20. In this case, for example, the server 10may be configured to perform at least a part of the processes of thefunctional units of the control device 21 of the terminal 20. Theterminal 20 may be configured to perform at least a part of theprocesses in the server 10. In this case, for example, the terminal 20may be configured to perform at least a part of the processes of thefunctional units of the control device 11 of the server 10. In thepresent disclosure, the configuration for performing a determinationoperation may be omitted, and in that case, a predetermined process maybe performed if a condition for the determination is satisfied, oranother predetermined process may be performed if the determinationcondition is not satisfied.

The program of the present disclosure may be implemented using, forexample, a script language such as ActionScript and JavaScript(registered trademark), an object-oriented programming language such asObjective-C and Java (registered trademark), and a markup language suchas HTML5. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

First Embodiment

In the first embodiment, with one account, an icon indicating a user ischanged to allow another user in the same chat room to recognize at aglance that the user has been switched. In addition, in the firstembodiment, the user name may also be changed as well as the change ofthe icon.

In the first embodiment, the description will be given assuming that thechange of the icon may occur according to a default setting and thechange of the user name may occur according to an optional setting.Alternatively, the change of the user name may occur according to adefault setting and the change of the icon may occur according to anoptional setting. In another example, both the change of the icon andthe change of the user name may occur according to a default setting.

As an example, as shown in FIG. 2A, the server (information processingapparatus) 10 includes a receiving unit (e.g., a receiver) 16, an outputunit (e.g., an output interface) 17, and a changing unit 18.

The server 10 provides a chat room for exchanging messages between atleast a first user corresponding to the first account and a second usercorresponding to the second account.

The receiving unit 16 receives a message.

Further, the output unit 17 outputs display information for displayingthe message received by the receiving unit 16 in association with theicon that is associated with the account corresponding to the user thathas transmitted the message.

When the message includes icon information to be displayed as the senderof the message, the changing unit 18 changes and displays the iconcorresponding to the account that has transmitted the message.

Here, when the changing unit 18 changes the icon, the output unit 17outputs display information for displaying the message received by thereceiving unit 16 in association with the changed icon.

A communication system including such a server 10 will be described indetail below. The functional units shown in FIG. 2A may be configured asa circuit having equivalent functions as shown in FIG. 2B, in which onecircuit embodies functions of a plurality of functional units.

The contents described in the first embodiment can be applied to any ofthe other embodiments. Further, functions normally included in variousservers and terminals are also assumed to be included in the server 10and the terminal 20, and descriptions thereof are omitted.

<Functional Configuration>

(1) Functional Configuration of Terminal

As shown in FIG. 1, the terminal 20 includes a message processor 211 anda display processor 212 as functions embodied by the control device 21.Although FIG. 1 illustrates two separate processors 211 and 212, theoperations of the message processor 211 and the display processor 212may be performed by a single processor, or more than two processors.

The message processor 211 has a function of transmitting and receiving amessage in a chat room and displaying the transmitted and receivedmessage on its own terminal, for example. On a display screen, areceived message is displayed on the left and a transmitted message isdisplayed on the right with respect to a time axis from top to bottom.In the case where a message is received when the chat room is notdisplayed on the display device 24, the message processor 211 generatesan image for push notification of the message, and displays the imageon, for example, a standby screen. At this time, the message processor211 may allow the push notification to include the user name and/or usericon of the user corresponding to the message. Further, the messageprocessor 211 generates a message in the data format shown in FIG. 3A inresponse to input of information for changing the user icon and/or theuser name of the user and the contents of the message, and allows themessage to be transmitted through the communication I/F 22 to the server10.

The display processor 212 displays the display data generated by themessage processor 211 via the display device 24. The display processor212 has a function of converting the display data into pixel informationand writing the pixel information into a frame buffer of the displaydevice 24.

(2) Functional Configuration of Server

As shown in FIG. 1, the server 10 includes a receiving unit 16, anoutput unit 17, and a changing unit 18 as functions embodied by thecontrol device 11.

The receiving unit 16 receives a message for the chat room. When thereceived message corresponds to a message to be written in the chatroom, the receiving unit 16 transmits the received message to the outputunit 17. If the received message includes information on the change ofthe user, the receiving unit 16 also transmits the received message tothe changing unit 18.

Here, an example of a data format of a message received by the receivingunit 16 will be described with reference to FIG. 3A. The example of thedata format of the message also serves as the format of the messagecreated by the transmission side. As shown in FIG. 3A, the message 310includes a destination user ID field 311, a message type field 312, amessage contents field 313, an icon information field 314, and a username information field 315.

The destination user ID field 311 may include information indicating theuser as the destination of the message. The destination user ID field311 may include information for specifying the chat room (e.g., a uniquenumber or code assigned to the chat room in which the userparticipates). The message type field 312 may include informationindicating the type of information of the push message, and indicates atype such as text data or image data.

The message contents field 313 may include information indicating thecontents of the body of the message displayed in the chat room or thepush message, for example, which may be text or an image.

The icon information field 314 may include information for specifying anicon to be displayed when the icon corresponding to the account ischanged in the chat room, to show the user who sent the message toanother user. The icon may include text (e.g., a user name) and/or animage (e.g., a profile image) as set by the account user, a conversationpartner of the account user, or default. The icon information field 314may include identification information capable of specifying the icon,information specifying a storage location where an icon image is storedon a network, or the icon image itself. The icon information field 314may include information on the change of the user described abovedepending on the presence/absence of the icon information in the iconinformation field 314. When the icon information is included in the iconinformation field 314 of the message, the user corresponding to theaccount is changed. In the present embodiment, the icon information 314is defined to be directed to information indicating the location of theicon.

The user name information field 315 may include text data indicating thechanged user name when the icon corresponding to the account in the chatroom and the user name are changed. When the user name information 315is included in the message, the message indicated by the messagecontents field 313 included in the message is sent with the user nameindicated by the user name information field 315.

As described above, the icon information field 314 and the user nameinformation field 315 each are newly provided as one of the fields thatdefine the message to be transmitted and received, allowing the usericon and the user name as the sender of the message in the chat room tobe easily changed. Further, an application programing interface (API)for changing the icons need not be provided separately, achieving anadvantage of reducing a delay and an error in comparison to a case wherea message and a request for changing the icon are separately transmittedfrom the terminal to the server. The advantage above avoids atransmission of the message without changing the icon and/or the username of the message. The advantage above also reduces the communicationamount in comparison to a case where a message and a request forchanging the icon are separately transmitted from the terminal to theserver.

In the example of the data format of the message to be transmitted andreceived shown in FIG. 3A, when the user is not changed, the iconinformation field 314 and the user name information field 315 may beleft blank. In another example, the icon information field 314 and theuser name information field 315 may contain a value (e.g., value “1”) ora code that indicates that the user has not been changed.

The output unit 17 outputs display information for displaying themessage received by the receiving unit 16 in association with the iconthat is associated with the account corresponding to the user that hastransmitted the message. Here, the display information is directed todisplay information indicating a chat room. In particular, when thechanging unit 18 has temporarily changed the icon of the usercorresponding to the received message, the output unit 17 generates thedisplay information of the chat room in which the changed icon isassociated with the message. Here, the operation of generating thedisplay information of the chat room may include the operation ofdisplaying the received message and the icon in association with eachother in the chat room. When the user name is changed, the operation ofgenerating the display information of the chat room may include theoperation of displaying the changed user name together with the messagein the chat room. That is, when the display information of the chat roomis generated, information is generated to be displayed in the chat roomdisplayed in each terminal 20. The display information of the chat roomgenerated by the output unit 17 is transmitted through the communicationI/F 14 to the terminal 20 corresponding to the chat room.

When receiving a message including the information on the change of theuser from the receiving unit 16, the changing unit 18 changes the usercorresponding to the account indicated by the message to another user.According to the example of the data format of the message describedabove, when the message includes the icon information field 314, thechanging unit 18 changes the icon of the corresponding message to theicon indicated by the icon information field 314, and changes the userthat has sent the message to the user indicated by the contents of theuser name information field 315. The message include the iconinformation field 314 and the user name information field 315 asdescribed above, allowing the icon and/or the user name as the sender ofthe message in the chat room to be easily changed. As another example,in a case where a plurality of users are associated with one account ofat least two accounts participating in the chat room, when a request forswitching one of the plurality of users is received, a user other thanthe one of the plurality of users may be changed as a user that can usethe one account. However, the example is not limited to this. Morespecifically, in a case where a plurality of users John, Mark, and Jennycan use an account A, when a request for switching the user is receivedin a state where John can use the account A, the user is switched toMark or Jenny as a user that can use the account A. In the example ofthe data format above, the icon information field 314 may specify anyone of a plurality of users corresponding to the account. When aplurality of users is associated with one account, a user that cannormally use the one account may be set, and the change of the user bythe changing unit 18 may be temporary. Accordingly, when the temporarilychanged user has finished using the one account, the changing unit 18may delete the change setting to return the usage right to the user thatcan normally use the one account.

The storage device 15 of the server 10 stores information on iconscorresponding to the users as shown in FIG. 3B to embody the change ofthe icon. FIG. 3B is a conceptual data diagram illustrating an exampleof the icon information 300. As shown in FIG. 3B, the icon information300 corresponds to information in which an icon ID 301, a user name 302,and a user icon 303 are associated with each other.

The icon information 301 corresponds to identification informationcapable of uniquely specifying an icon on the communication system, andalso information to be compared with the icon information included inthe icon information field 314 of the message. If the icon information300 includes the icon ID 301 that corresponds to the icon informationincluded in the icon information field 314, the corresponding user icon303 is used as the icon as the sender of the message.

The user name 302 corresponds to information indicating the name of theuser in the chat room, in which each name is associated with acorresponding piece of the icon ID 301. The user name 302 is optional.

The icon 303 corresponds to image information indicating the user's ownicon used by the user in the chat room, in which each icon is associatedwith a corresponding piece of the icon ID 301. The user icon 303 can beset by the user in his or her own profile settings.

The presence of the icon information 300 allows the control device 11 todisplay, even when the icon is changed, the message of the userparticipating in the chat room in association with the changed icon.

The storage device 15 stores an account and a user ID in associationwith each other, and also stores information indicating to which chatroom the account corresponds. At this time, a plurality of user IDs maybe stored in association with one account. However, the user that canuse the one account at a time is only the user corresponding to one userID of the plurality of associated user IDs.

Although the details are omitted here, the control device 11 isresponsible for the entire process of exchanging the messages in thechat room, and has a function of updating the information to bedisplayed in the corresponding chat room each time when a message isreceived from the user, and notifying the other users participating inthe chat room of the message.

(3) Exchange in Communication System

FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram illustrating exchange in the communicationsystem. The sequence diagram shown in FIG. 4 illustrates an exchangewhen a user issues a request for switching a user.

The terminal 20 transmits a message including the icon information tothe server 10 in response to the input from the user (step S401).

The server 10 that has received the message changes the icon. Here, thechange of the icon refers to a fact that the icon indicated as thesender associated with one account is temporarily changed to the othericon specified in the message. The server 10 then transmits the displayinformation in which the changed user icon and the message areassociated with each other to the terminal 20, i.e., transmitsinformation of the changed icon and the message as information to benewly displayed in the chat room displayed on the terminal 20 (stepS402). This displays the changed icon and the message in associationwith each other in the chat room of the terminal 20.

In example embodiments of the present disclosure, operations S401 andS402 may occur without indicating or displaying that an existingconversation partner has left the chat room.

(4) Operations of Server 10

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating operations of the server 10 when theserver 10 receives information on a request for switching the user.

As shown in FIG. 5, the receiving unit 16 of the control device 11determines whether a message including information on a request forswitching the icon is received through the communication I/F 14 (stepS501). The request for switching the icon here refers to a request for,in the case where the server 10 is responding in a chat room using a botuser, switching the bot user to an operator, or vice versa.

If a message including the information on the request for switching theicon is received (YES in step S501), the receiving unit 16 outputs themessage to the display 13, and the operator is notified of the requestfor switching the user (switching the icon) (step S502). In this case,as an example, the changing unit 18 may change the user that uses theaccount from the bot to the operator or from the operator to the bot. Ifa message that does not include the information on the request forswitching the user is received (NO in step S501), the process proceedsto step S503.

In step S503, the receiving unit 16 of the server 10 determines whethera new message is received (step S503). Here, the receiving unit 16receives a message from the terminal 20 received through thecommunication I/F 14, a message by the control device 11 as a bot userin the chat room, or a message input by the operator.

The receiving unit 16 determines whether the received message includesthe icon information field 314 and/or determines whether the iconinformation field 314 indicates that the icon information has beenchanged (step S504). If the received message includes the iconinformation field 314 and/or the icon information field 314 indicatesthat the icon information has been changed (YES in step S504), thechanging unit 18 changes the icon of the user corresponding to theaccount to information included in the icon information field 314. Theoutput unit 17 transmits information including the contents of thereceived message and the image of the icon specified in the iconinformation field 314 to the terminal 20 corresponding to the chat room.That is, the output unit 17 associates the received message with thechanged icon to update the information to be displayed in the chat room,and transmits the information displayed in the chat room through thecommunication I/F 14 to the terminals 20 of the users included in thechat room (step S505), and the process is completed.

When the received message does not include the icon information field314 and/or when the icon information field 314 does not include the iconinformation (NO in step S504), the output unit 17 transmits theinformation to be displayed in the chat room through the communicationinterface I/F to the terminals 20 of the users included in the chat room(step S506), and the process is completed. That is, the output unit 17transmits information including the contents of the received message andhaving the icon information 314 field blank to the terminals 20corresponding to the chat room (step S506), and the process iscompleted.

By performing the processes shown in FIG. 5, even when a user isswitched, the server 10 can provide an instant messaging serviceallowing the other users participating in the chat room to check thatthe user is switched at a glance. Especially, in a service having aswitch between the bot user that automatically responds and theoperator, the switch between the bot user that automatically respondsand the operator can be clarified, providing a highly convenient instantmessaging service for the user.

(5) Operations of Terminal 20

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating processing related to the instantmessaging service in the terminal 20.

As shown in FIG. 6, first, the input/output device 23 of the terminal 20determines whether an input related to the switching of the icon isreceived (step S601). The switching of the icon here refers to atemporary change of the icon in an account that can be used by the userhim/herself, and also an input of icon information indicating the iconof the user that sends a message. The input/output device 23 transmits areceived request for switching the icon to the control device 21.

In the case where the input related to the switching of the icon isreceived (YES in step S601), when the input related to the switching ofthe icon and the input of the message are received, the control device21 transmits the message including the icon information through thecommunication I/F 22 to the server 10 (step S602). The message mayinclude information indicating the chat room in which the userparticipates, in the destination user ID field 311, and the iconinformation of the user that participates in the chat room, in the iconinformation field 314, and may further include the changed user nameinformation in the user name information field 315.

If the input related to the switching of the icon is not received (NO instep S601), the communication I/F 22 determines whether the informationof the chat room is received from the server 10 (step S603). If newinformation (message) to be displayed in the chat room is received fromthe server 10 (YES in step S603), the communication I/F 22 transmits theinformation to the control device 21 and if the new information is notreceived (NO in step S603), the process is completed.

When the new information (message) to be displayed in the chat room isreceived, the message processor 211 of the control device 21 determineswhether the chat room is displayed (step S604). If the chat room isdisplayed (step S604: YES), the message processor 211 updates thedisplay contents of the chat room. At this time, if a message includingthe switching of the icon by the user is displayed, the messageprocessor 211 displays the chat room in which the icon of the user fromthat point in time becomes a changed icon in association with themessage on the display device 24. When the message processor 211receives new information to be displayed for the chat room and the chatroom is not displayed (NO in step S604), the message processor 211issues a push notification in which the message received as theinformation for the chat room, the icon of the corresponding user (thechanged icon), and the corresponding user name are associated with oneanother (step S606), and the process is completed. At this time, if themessage in which the icon is changed is registered in the chat room, apush notification of the message corresponding to the changed icon isissued. The processing shown in FIG. 6 is regularly and repeatedlyperformed in the terminal 20.

The above processing allows the terminal 20 to issue a request forswitching the user, and the server 10 to switch the user in response tothe request for switching the user, and display the state of the chatroom in which the icon is changed. The switching of the icon of the userallows a plurality of users that can use one account to check theswitching at a glance.

(6) Example of Display Screen

Hereinafter, the switching of the icon will be described using aspecific example. FIG. 7A is a screen diagram illustrating an example ofexchange of messages in the chat room as an example. The screen diagramcorresponds to a screen diagram displayed on the display device 24 ofthe terminal 20.

FIG. 7A illustrates a state in which a bot that automatically respondsand a user exchange messages in the chat room. As shown in FIG. 7A, themessages of the conversation partner are displayed on the left side ofthe screen, and the messages of the user are displayed on the rightside. Further, the messages of the conversation partner display the usericon and the user name of the conversation partner in association witheach other to facilitate identification of the user as the conversationpartner.

As shown in the example of FIG. 7A, when messages are exchanged by anautomatic response, an answer as intended by the user may fail to beobtained. Accordingly, it is assumed that the user has made an input tothe terminal 20 to request the switch of the users. For example, it isassumed that “YES” shown in the message of the bot in FIG. 7B istouched. A message including a request for switching the user is thentransmitted from the terminal 20 to the server 10.

In response to the request for switching the user, the server 10 thenchanges the user of the account corresponding to the user “bot” to, forexample, an operator as a person that provides an actual service. Here,the change to the operator refers to a fact that the responding subjectchanges from the “bot” to the “(human) operator,” and also refers to afact that the automatic response is terminated. At this time, theoperator transmits a message including the icon information field 314and the user name information field 315, which respectively store theicon information and the user name information of the operator, from theterminal operated by himself/herself to the server 10.

Accordingly, the terminal 20 receives the message including the iconinformation 314 and the user name information 315 as new information tobe displayed for the chat room, and as shown in FIG. 7B, after the useris changed (after the icon is changed), the message and the user nameare displayed in association with the changed user icon.

Therefore, when a user is switched to another user for one account (forexample, when the bot user is switched to the operator as shown in FIG.7B), the counterpart user that participates in the chat room is allowedto clearly recognize that the user is switched from a fact that the iconis switched. In example embodiments, the previous chatroom participant(e.g., “bot”) and the new chatroom participant (e.g., “(human)operator”) may be associated with the same group account (e.g., acompany customer service account). When the previous chatroomparticipant is switched to the new chatroom participant, the chartroommay omit displaying an indication that the previous chatroom participanthas left the chatroom so that the conversation counterpart of theprevious and new chatroom participants may feel that he/she iscontinuously receiving the customer support service from the samecompany or group.

In addition, since the correspondence between the message and the iconin the chat room is stored in the server 10 as information in which theicon is associated with each message, the message associated with theicon changed by the changing unit 18 can be visually recognized in astate where the message is associated with the changed icon at any timewhen the chat room is checked. That is, even if the messagingapplication provided by the instant messaging service is terminated onceand then the messaging application is run again to check the chat room,the chat room in which the user icon is switched as shown in FIG. 7B canbe checked.

Further, the user icon can be changed without changing the icon imageset as the profile of the user corresponding to the account.Conventionally, a user that sets an icon image for an account can changethe icon of the user displayed in a chat room, for example, by changinghis or her own profile image. The communication system according to thepresent embodiment omits the process for switching the icon.

FIGS. 8A and 8B each illustrate an example of a display of a pushnotification when the terminal 20 receives a message in a state wherethe chat room is not displayed. FIG. 8A illustrates an example of adisplay before the icon is changed, and FIG. 8B illustrates an exampleof a display after the icon is changed.

FIG. 8A illustrates, in a case where the server 10 receives the messageat 11:40 in FIG. 7B and transmits the message to the terminal 20 beforethe user is switched, an example of a push notification when a chat roomis not displayed by the user on the terminal 20. As shown in FIG. 8A,the push notification notifies the user of a new message, and may alsonotify the user of the contents of the message, and the user icon andthe user name of the user that has transmitted the message.

In contrast, FIG. 8B illustrates, in a case where the server 10 receivesthe message at 11:43 in FIG. 7B and transmits the message to theterminal 20 after the user is switched, an example of a pushnotification when a chat room is not displayed by the user on theterminal 20. As shown in FIG. 8B, even in the push notification, whenthe user is changed, the push notification is issued with the changeduser name and user icon.

Although FIGS. 8A and 8B each illustrate an example of the pushnotification on the lock screen, the change of the user name and theuser icon is not limited to the push notification on the lock screen.

As described above, the fact that the user is changed (the icon ischanged) is reflected even on the push notification such that the usericon and the user name are changed.

Second Embodiment

The second embodiment is directed to an embodiment in which a serverstoring the icons is provided separately. The first embodimentillustrates that the server 10 is configured to store the icons andtransmits the message input by the operator or the message automaticallygenerated by the control device 11. In contrast, the second embodimentillustrates an example in which the server 10 acquires the icons fromanother icon server 900.

In the second embodiment, the description will be given assuming thatthe change of the icon is a necessary condition and the change of theuser name is additional. Alternatively, the change of the user name maybe a necessary condition and the change of the icon may be additional.Also, the change of the icon and the change of the user name may be anecessary condition.

In a manner different from that of the first embodiment, when the server10 according to the second embodiment receives a message including theicon information 314, the communication I/F 14 transfers the iconinformation 314 to the icon server 900. When the communication I/F 14 ofthe server 10 receives the information of the icon from the icon server900, the communication I/F 14 transmits the information to the controldevice 11, and the control device 11 associates the received icon withthe contents of the message transmitted from the terminal 20 and updatesthe information to be displayed in the chat room.

Regarding the icon server 900, it has substantially the sameconfiguration as that of the server 10 in both the hardwareconfiguration and the functional configuration. However, the icon server900 does not need to have a function of updating the information in thechat room. The icon server 900 receives the icon information 314,specifies the corresponding icon ID 301, and returns the associated icon303 to the server 10.

FIG. 9 is a sequence diagram illustrating exchanges in the communicationsystem when the icon server 900 is provided. As shown in FIG. 9, theterminal 20 transmits a message including the icon information 314 tothe server 10 in response to the input from the user (step S401).

The server 10 that has received the message including the iconinformation 314 transfers the icon information 314 to the icon server900 (step S901).

The icon server 900 that has received the icon information 314 specifiesthe corresponding icon ID 301. The icon 303 associated with thespecified icon ID 301 is acquired and transmitted to the server 10 (stepS902).

The server 10 that has received the icon updates the information to bedisplayed in the chat room in which the received user participates usingthe user icon received in the process in step S902 and the contents ofthe message received in step S401. The server 10 then transmits theinformation of the updated chat room including the new message with thechanged icon to the terminal 20 (step S402).

Here, although an example in which the icon server 900 functions as adata server that only serves to transmit the icons is illustrated, theicon server 900 may serve as a bot user.

The communication system may be configured to include the two servers,i.e., the server 10 and the icon server 900 as described above. Thisconfiguration allows the icon server 900 to substitutes for the functionof the server 10 in the first embodiment, reducing the processing loadon the server 10. Further, an API for changing the icons need not beprovided separately, achieving an advantage of limiting occuring of adelay and an error in comparison to a case where a message and a requestfor changing the icon are separately transmitted from the terminal tothe server. The advantage above avoids a transmission of the messagewithout changing the icon and/or the user name of the message. Theadvantage above also reduces the communication amount in comparison to acase where a message and a request for changing the icon are separatelytransmitted from the terminal to the server.

Modification 1

In the embodiments above, examples are given where a trigger in whichthe user that participates in the chat room inputs a request forswitching the counterpart user to another (for example, switching thebot user to the operator) triggers switching between the bot user andthe operator. The present disclosure is not limited to this.

The switching of the user may be performed by the operator of the server10. Alternatively, the switching of the user may be automaticallyperformed by the control device 11 of the server 10 in response to atrigger in which the control device 11 analyzes the message in the chatroom and a predetermined keyword is included in the message.

As an example, when a chat room provides a service in which a characterin a certain work makes a response, the input of the message related toa certain character by the user may be configured to trigger theswitching the counterpart to the certain character. However, the presentdisclosure is not limited to this. In addition, the control device 11 ofthe server 10 alternately generates messages of a plurality ofcharacters included in the certain work to show as if the characters aretalking with each other to the user. At this time, in each messagetransmitted from the terminal that serves as the bot user to the server10, information showing an image indicating the corresponding characteris used for the icon information 314, and information showing the nameof each character is used for the user name that is contained in theuser name information field 315. The server 10 embodies the switching ofthe user icon and the user name in the chat room only by includinginformation on the icon and information on the nickname (user name) inthe message to be transmitted and received.

Modification 2

In the embodiments above, examples of a one-to-one talk are illustrated.However, in the group talk in which a plurality of users participates,the user may be switched among a plurality of users corresponding to oneaccount in the same manner. In addition, at this time, in the chat room,information indicating the account may be displayed as well to allow theplurality of users to recognize that the user has been switched in theone account.

OTHERS

The foregoing exemplary embodiments are merely exemplary and are not tobe construed as limiting. The present teaching can be readily applied toother types of apparatuses. Also, the description of the exemplaryembodiments is intended to be illustrative, and not to limit the scopeof the claims, and many alternatives, modifications, and variations willbe apparent to those skilled in the art.

What is claimed is:
 1. An information processing method for providing atalk room for exchanging messages between at least a first usercorresponding to a first account and a second user corresponding to asecond account, the method including: a receiving step of receiving amessage; an outputting step of outputting display information fordisplaying the message received in the receiving step in associationwith an icon that is associated with an account corresponding to a userthat has transmitted the message; and a changing step of changing, whenthe message includes icon information to be displayed as a talker of themessage, the icon corresponding to the account that has transmitted themessage, wherein the outputting step outputs, when the changing stepchanges the icon, display information for displaying the messagereceived in the receiving step in association with the changed icon. 2.The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein theoutputting step further outputs display information for displaying auser name indicating a name of the user in association with the messageand the icon, and the changing step further changes, when the messageincludes information on the user name, the user name to be displayed asthe talker of the message to a user name indicated by the information onthe user name, and the outputting step outputs, when the changing stepchanges the user name, display information for displaying the messagereceived in the receiving step in association with the changed username.
 3. The information processing method according to claim 1, whereinthe display information is directed to information of a pushnotification indicating that a message is in the talk room on a screenother than the talk room.
 4. The information processing method accordingto claim 1, wherein the outputting step outputs display information fordisplaying an icon indicating a third user associated with a messagefrom the third user without changing the icon associated with the firstaccount.
 5. The information processing method according to claim 1,wherein the first user is a bot user that automatically responds to amessage from the second user.
 6. An information processing apparatus forproviding a talk room for exchanging messages between at least a firstuser corresponding to a first account and a second user corresponding toa second account, the apparatus comprising: a receiving unit forreceiving a message; an outputting unit for outputting displayinformation for displaying the message received by the receiving unit inassociation with an icon that is associated with an accountcorresponding to a user that has transmitted the message; and a changingunit for changing, when the message includes icon information to bedisplayed as a talker of the message, the icon corresponding to theaccount that has transmitted the message, wherein the outputting unitoutputs, when the changing unit changes the icon, display informationfor displaying the message received by the receiving unit in associationwith the changed icon.
 7. A storage medium storing an informationprocessing program that causes an information processing apparatus forproviding a talk room for exchanging messages between at least a firstuser corresponding to a first account and a second user corresponding toa second account to execute: a receiving function of receiving amessage; an outputting function of outputting display information fordisplaying the message received by the receiving function in associationwith an icon that is associated with an account corresponding to a userthat has transmitted the message; and a changing function of changing,when the message includes icon information to be displayed as a talkerof the message, the icon corresponding to the account that hastransmitted the message, wherein the outputting function outputs, whenthe changing function changes the icon, display information fordisplaying the message received by the receiving function in associationwith the changed icon.